hey ya'll
i was on the maumee river this weekend with some new friends when the subject of boat licenses came up. Someone said that since i have an ohio boating license (which just involved taking an online course), kentucky wasnt a reciprocating state for that kind of license. This is the first i've heard of that, and kind of assumed since i had a license in ohio i would be fine elsewhere.

Anyone know what the deal is with that? i go to cumberland every now and then, and do boat on the ohio river quite a bit (well.. used to).

side note:
do you need a oar as part of your safety equipment? i didnt think you did... but they mentioned that too. I figure thats what the wakeboards were for if the boat stopped working....

SilviaMan

07-03-2012, 11:25 AM

not sure on the license... interested to know!
ski, wakeboard, oar, all paddles to me if I need to move the boat!

MCVOLS

07-03-2012, 11:46 AM

Not sure about KY, but TN only requires licensing if you were born after 1/1/89 (I think that is the date). I know there are guys from OH that come to Norris, so they would know more specifics about registrations, but I don't see an operator license as an issue.

Also, in TN an oar is not required, just something to use if needed (ski, wakeboard, etc). Same for a bailing device, you don't have to carry a bucket, but could use a cooler or something.

Covi

07-03-2012, 04:02 PM

I live in VT and boat in NH the majority of the time. I have a VT boat leicense. In my mind it is reciprocal in 49 other sates. How can this be argued? The safe boating manuals should be virtually the same state to state. In fact when done with the online test, the test take would have read the manual from cover to cover. Not a bad thing. Indeed I learned a few things.

cpr05xtr

07-03-2012, 04:41 PM

Wyoming has no boating licenses! lucky me

mikeg205

07-03-2012, 05:10 PM

no license required if over 18 in illinois...but wish it were required.

73blue

07-03-2012, 06:22 PM

Not sure about KY, but TN only requires licensing if you were born after 1/1/89 (I think that is the date). I know there are guys from OH that come to Norris, so they would know more specifics about registrations, but I don't see an operator license as an issue.

Also, in TN an oar is not required, just something to use if needed (ski, wakeboard, etc). Same for a bailing device, you don't have to carry a bucket, but could use a cooler or something.

The law for Out-of-staters in TN:
"If you were born after January 1, 1989, TWRA will accept any NASBLA approved boating safety certificate."

If you are renting the boat, you don't have to have anything.

http://www.tn.gov/twra/boatmain.html

BrianT

07-03-2012, 09:52 PM

We require a license to operate a boat in Canada. We were in Idaho list summer and got checked by the local sheriff. They were just doing checks at the launch for safety stuff and I asked if they needed to see my license. They said they didn't care about boat licenses in ID so I assume they don't need them there.

1redTA

07-04-2012, 10:29 AM

I would think the rules for the state of my/your residence have jurisdiction. My reasoning, look at trailer tags required in some states and not in others. Who would be able to(want to) get a tag for every state we visit?